Psychology

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Curriculum Overview

Psychology is offered at A level at Herschel and so is a new subject for all our sixth form students and provides an exciting new challenge.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour and the course consists of an eclectic mix of approaches to explaining these concepts. Students will find themselves using skills from the Sciences, English, Humanities and Maths, as well as learning some new ones along the way. Psychology has gained in popularity over recent years and it is often ranked as one of the most popular subject choices in sixth form colleges. Many universities offer a range of Psychology courses allowing students to study the discipline further and many also accept Psychology A level as a science along with Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

The course covers a diverse spectrum of topics to allow students to gain a broad knowledge of the subject. In the first year we look at memory, stress, childhood attachment, social influence, psychological abnormality and research methods. The second year builds on this but goes into more depth with psychological disorders and psychology in everyday life. The students choose the exact topics they would like to study in year 13 at the end of year 12.

The course is exam-based with two exams each year in June. Because of the diverse nature of the topics we study it does allow for a range of learning experiences including medical professionals coming in to speak to the students, trips (previous years have included London Zoo and a local private mental health facility), practical work e.g. carrying out experiments, and much more!

So if you are looking for a subject that will help you to understand both yourself and others better and will challenge you with new concepts then Psychology might just be the course for you!